Ending all sighs of anticipations, Microsoft raises the curtain off its latest Internet browser, Internet Explorer 9 or IE9 with a bash at SXSW. Internet Explorer 9 makes its debut at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival, being celebrated in Austin, Texas at 9 p.m. PT. The IE9 is unleashed as the most standard-compliant and the fastest browser and loaded with features to contend against its counterparts Apple Safari, Opera, Mozilla Firefox 4 and Google Chrome 10. Microsoft debuts Internet Explorer 9 with innovative overhauls including a refurbished search box, Pinned sites, add-on performance impact notifications and many more. With all these renovations, Microsoft has conveyed message for Windows XP users worldwide to upgrade their systems to Windows 7 sooner to be able to experience fastest browsing with Internet Explorer 9. Microsoft has given an official explanation as to why Windows XP is not supported by Internet Explorer: the graphics card equipped hardware acceleration that aids in loading browser faster will not function properly with Windows XP. Hence, only Windows 7 and Windows Vista based PCs can take advantage of the speed improvements in Internet browsing with Internet Explorer 9 as for the Windows XP notebook users, IE9 will remain elusive and a big bummer!

Besides incompatibility to Windows XP, Internet Explorer 9 is a much advanced browser. So, let’s take an early look of what you can do with this browser:

Revamped interface: Perhaps the most prominent tweaks brought in IE9 will be its minimalist browser interface. All the menus, icons, or tools existed till Internet Explorer 8 has been swept off to fetch a clear look. A single/combined URL, new main menu icons and a search bar have replaced the old cluster of tools and menu items. The interface is having resemblance to the Google Chrome browser.

Pinned sites: Since IE9 is integrated to the Windows 7, it allows users pinning websites to the Taskbar with the feature named ‘Pinned Sites’. All you need to do is to grab the site’s icon from the browser’s address bar and drag to the Taskbar. Moreover, the ‘Pinned sites’ feature is not only pinned to taskbar; Windows Vista users can pin frequently browsed websites to the Start menu.

Unified Search Bar: The unified search box takes in all the functionalities of search box of IE predecessors. Changing search providers on the fly in the IE9 lists all the relevant webpages, bookmarks, history on typing the search phrase in the search box.

Add-On Performance Notifications: It is a little feature with big significance. The add-on performance notification is to alert you if an add-on is deterring the performance of the browser. With this, users can customize the level of impact of such notifications of IE9.

Microsoft has opted for this ‘lean, muscular layout’ for Internet Explorer 9 to focus spotlight on the sleek websites as well as to come up to the pace of competition against Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. The browsers will be served inclusive of the Windows operating system software as its perpetual endeavor to keep their huge consumer base happy and continue with their products. With the appearance tweaks, enhanced security and privacy tools plus support for HTML5, IE9 promises continued success stories after Windows 7 Operating System, Microsoft Kinect motion sensor accessory for Xbox 360 gaming consoles.